“Thank you for your hard work, Sister! You must rest well over the next few days. Working out is a long-term commitment, so don't forget about Xiaobai!”
Xin Hai'an limped away.
Her delicate profile was flushed a light pink, and her beautiful eyes were slightly narrowed, as if she were savoring some lingering sensation.
The two bodyguards supported her on either side, glaring at the onlookers who had strange expressions on their faces.
“What are you looking at? She's just tired from training!”
Having sent off his client like a textbook gigolo, Bai Xiaodu wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a sigh of relief.
Being around a transcendent was truly like dancing on a tightrope.
After all, you never knew when that rope would suddenly snap with a sharp twang and unravel completely.
Fortunately, Xin Hai'an seemed very happy. Her Affection had risen to 40, unlocking another small gray gift.
It was another attribute point... a very simple yet incredibly valuable reward.
After all, attribute points determined one's base stats, and without high enough stats, it was impossible to learn anything.
The minotaur boss stared at him as if looking at a completely new species, his face filled with awe.
Then, he made a quick phone call.
“Hello? Director Chen, it's me. Cancel that emergency surgery I reserved earlier. Yes, and refund the deposit. The last four digits of my phone number are 6767...”
“No need to refund the money,”
Bai Xiaodu's face darkened.
This bastard of a minotaur had played both sides to perfection; no matter whether Bai Xiaodu won or lost, the boss would come out looking like the good guy.
“Exchange it for medication for Zerg dust lung disease. Adjust the difference from my salary.”
Bai Xiaodu added.
“Consider it a favor for taking care of a massive headache for you.”
The boss's connections were clearly much broader than his, so he might as well take advantage of the opportunity to get some benefits.
The minotaur boss nodded.
“Did you hear that? Yes, we want the lung disease medication. Hard to get? Then I'll have to trouble you. I'll definitely treat you to a meal next time. Yes, still at Starry Heaven. Some new Sirens just arrived there. Their voices, tsk tsk tsk...”
Ignoring the gazes of his colleagues behind him—filled with awe, envy, and even a hint of fear—Bai Xiaodu quickly walked out the door without looking back.
The emotions of these people weren't worth mentioning. Whether they felt good or bad about him, he didn't care.
It was already late.
Standing on the neon-lit street, Bai Xiaodu muttered to himself.
Transcendent...
Now that he had this so-called Love System, he finally had a glimmer of hope to ascend to become a transcendent.
They had gotten along well today, but Xin Hai'an was not someone to be easily fooled.
Transcendents were not to be trifled with, and vampires were even less so.
Even though his colleagues looked at him with awe and fear now, if he ever made a single slip of the tongue, they would be the first to kick him while he was down.
He thought of the Sirens the minotaur boss had mentioned.
Bai Xiaodu frequented night lounges, so of course he had seen them.
Even without training, Sirens could sing beautiful songs and cast simple, minor spells.
Their vocal cords and throat muscles were highly developed.
That feeling...
It was completely unique, making them highly favored by wealthy guests.
With their bodies numbed to the point of being treated like cargo to be bought and sold, they were no different from the walking dead.
Such glamorous and decadent places always inspired wild fantasies, but whenever Bai Xiaodu drank a little too much, he couldn't help but see his own reflection in their fawning, flattering faces.
Bai Xiaodu absolutely could not tolerate that.
“Transcendents, those who transcend mortality.”
Perhaps only by becoming a transcendent would he gain a voice—even if faint, it would be one that others could never ignore.
His plans to become a transcendent had started long ago, but progress had been slow, only recently yielding a breakthrough.
According to the information he currently possessed, there were multiple paths for transcendents in this world.
But they could be broadly categorized into either spellcasting or martial arts paths.
And his target was a class within the spellcasting category.
【Warlock】.
For the commoner class, this was an extremely cost-ineffective choice.
The talent requirements were even more demanding than those of a Mage. Spell rune shaping agents, magic replenishment salves, cantrip learning scrolls, spell scrolls, elemental wands, elemental magic crystals...
The resources required to raise a single Mage or Warlock transcendent were enough to nurture at least three Warriors of the same rank.
But what truly made Bai Xiaodu make up his mind was a drunken, slurred remark from an Elven client.
That was half a year ago.
“What a beautiful silver tail... Can you snap your fingers to light my cigarette? Hmm? You don't know how? Impossible. All silver foxes should know spells. Keep joking around, and you'll get a very, very deep kiss.”
After she said that, Bai Xiaodu's mind went blank.
As an endangered species, how could he not have researched his own background?
He was a mutated branch of the snow fox subspecies of the fox-kin race. He had a unique coat color, relatively strong Charm and Perception stats, but no bloodline inheritance, no age-based growth, and no innate legacy.
It was a very standard, ordinary racial profile with just a minor specialty.
But that Elf was truly no ordinary client.
The boss had personally sought out Bai Xiaodu for a face-to-face talk, offering a price he couldn't refuse, promising medicine, and repeatedly emphasizing the need to watch his words and actions.
So, he accompanied her.
Upon seeing him, the Elf seemed exceptionally delighted. She didn't mind the trouble at all, pinching his ears, squeezing his tail, and repeatedly confirming that Bai Xiaodu's fur wasn't dyed.
As they toasted each other, her behavior grew increasingly intimate.
The other employees were sensible; seeing that she didn't spare anyone else a single glance, they quietly slipped out one by one.
The boss was sensible too, silently turning off the surveillance cameras in the background.
Bai Xiaodu wondered if it was time for him to be sensible as well.
If he had to give himself up, so be it. The beauty of the Elven race went without saying.
Yet, nothing happened.
Her ivory face was hazy with intoxication, her pointed ears flushed with a faint red. Leaning in incredibly close, Bai Xiaodu sniffed, catching a scent of her body fragrance—so alluring it sparked wild fantasies.
What should have followed was a passionate make-out session, then some mutual groping, accompanied by soft whispers about how much they suited each other's tastes.
But for some reason, this damn girl suddenly began to mumble.
Then, she clearly cried out:
“Prepare to face the righteous judgment of the supreme Elven race, Silver Demon King who tears the heavens apart!”
For some reason, right after shouting that, she seemed to snap awake in terror. Her dazed eyes instantly cleared up, her body shuddered a few times, and without saying another word, she hurriedly rushed out of the private room.
...
What the hell was that?
It left Bai Xiaodu standing alone in the private room, clutching his waistband in utter bewilderment.
Why was she acting like the impotent protagonist of some trashy light novel from his past life? Groping and teasing from chapter one to chapter one thousand, practically begging for it, yet refusing to actually do the deed when the time came.
This script was definitely wrong.
The boss rushed in, and his very first sentence was questioning whether Bai Xiaodu had some sort of performance issue.
How could the guest leave just three minutes after the cameras were turned off?
He hadn't even asked for some enhancement pills beforehand, making the boss worry that his lounge might get into trouble.
After a brief explanation of the situation, the anxious boss received the client's payment and a note left for Bai Xiaodu.
“You are still young. Study hard and learn well, especially when it comes to spell conversion and the like. Stop doing this kind of work here. It breaks my heart to see you like this.”
Well, if not for that specific mention of “spell conversion,” she really would have fit the classic archetype of a client urging a gigolo to turn over a new leaf.
Neither the boss nor his colleagues paid any attention to it, but Bai Xiaodu kept it in mind.
【Mage】 class focused on spells, whereas the 【Warlock】 class focused on spell conversion.
It was later proven that the Elf had not lied to him.
Gritting his teeth, he had spent his savings of 200,000 credits to buy a basic introductory manual for Warlocks, only to be astonished by how quickly he could comprehend it.
While an ordinary person would need at least a year, it took him only two months to quiet his mind and begin engraving spell runes within his so-called sea of consciousness.
Completing the engraving of a specific rune in the sea of consciousness meant mastering a spell.
The clearer and more precise the rune, the better the mastery of the spell.
But here lay his greatest pain.
He had no money.
Stepping from mortality into transcendence was an incredibly tedious process.
All of your six dimensions had to be enhanced before your body could withstand the power bestowed by a transcendent class.
Children from prestigious clans and large families typically started from a young age, using various training methods and precious medicinal diets to slowly build themselves up over time.
Then there was another requirement: rune scrolls for cantrips or formal spells, which were even rarer.
Bai Xiaodu had the ability to engrave them, but to this day, he hadn't made a single stroke in his sea of consciousness.
Without following the patterns explored, deduced, and established by predecessors, blindly engraving runes on one's own would literally kill a person.
Rising in rank was difficult—harder than reaching the heavens.
Having one's physical six dimensions reach the required standards and mastering at least three cantrips or formal spells...
...only then was there a possibility of becoming an official 【Warlock】.
Rate on N.U.
